Description:

The main goal of the proposed project is to raise public awareness about the importance of protecting the Big Sioux River drainage basin. To accomplish this goal, the City and its partnering agencies are seeking to expand and improve public accessibility to a wide variety of relevant environmental data.

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Continuous real-time water quality monitors will be installed at three USGS gauging stations to provide information on water quality in the Big Sioux River with instrumentation to measure specific conductance, pH, water temperature, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, and nitrate concentration. Monitoring these parameters will provide useful information concerning the ionic content of the water, amounts of suspended materials, movement of nutrients through the basin, and values of important variables that are critical to aquatic organisms. Periodic water samples for analysis of nitrate and suspended-sediment concentrations will be collected monthly at each station. Samples for semi-quantitative analysis of triazine-herbicide concentration by immunoassay will be collected six times per year at each station, during the period April through July to monitor pre- and post-application concentrations.

Water quality and water quantity data (stage/discharge) that is being collected through on-going projects within the watershed will be supplied by the partnering agencies. Chemical parameters being analyzed include ammonia, nitrate, total suspended solids, total phosphorus, total dissolved phosphorus, TKN and total solids. Fecal coliform is also analyzed. Field readings of temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity and conductivity are also being taken. The city actively samples Big Sioux River water five days a week for several parameters including pH, alkalinity, hardness (total, calcium, and magnesium), turbidity, temperature, total dissolved solids, color, iron, manganese, fluoride, chloride, nitrate, nitrite, bromide and sulfate. In addition, total organic carbon and UV-254 are sampled weekly. Samples for microbiological parameters are collected on a monthly basis that includes total and fecal coliforms, Cryptosporidium, and Giardia. Quarterly analysis of select herbicides and insecticides is also performed and will be m

Cost :$572,976.00

Research Component :Ecological Indicators/Assessment/Restoration

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